Using UV Lights to Improve Winter Indoor Air Quality

IAQ in O'Fallon, MO

It’s extremely important that we maintain a healthy level of indoor air quality (IAQ) in our home. In the winter, this becomes more important as we spend more time inside. Exposure to contaminants can cause issues like allergy symptoms, breathing problems, and spreading germs more frequently. UV lights are starting to be used in homes more frequently to help improve indoor air quality. Let’s look at how this technology works and why it’s beneficial for your O’Fallon, MO home.

What Impacts Indoor Air Quality in Winter?

In the summer months, it’s common for pollen and other outdoor contaminants to come inside and compromise a home’s indoor air quality. In the winter months, there are several issues to watch out for. Because of reduced ventilation and increased use of heating equipment, homeowners may experience too much or too little humidity, mold growth, a large prevalence of dust particles, and a high concentration of allergens like pet dander.

Working with an experienced HVAC professional to address the individual concerns of your household can help bring your IAQ to a healthier level. This can be accomplished with the use of a whole-house purification unit, humidity-controlling equipment, and UV light technology.

What Is UV Light Technology?

Ultraviolet lights, or UV lights for short, come in different types. The type of UV light commonly used in homes is UV-C light. Installed onto your HVAC system, air will pass through the UV light before it circulates through your ductwork and into your home. This light can permanently damage the DNA of bacteria, viruses, mold, and other pathogens. This renders them harmless. Unfortunately, this isn’t the type of technology that is used to collect a large amount of particulate matter, so UV lights are usually used along with purification equipment.

The Benefits of UV Light Technology

As we snuggle up indoors to avoid the cold and snow that’s outside, there are several indoor air quality issues to contend with. UV lights can help with the following.

Preventing Germs

As mentioned, UV lights damage the DNA of germs. If someone in your home is sick, germicidal UV lights help prevent germs from spreading from one part of the home to another. This can help your family cut back on the number of people that get sick. As cold and flu season ramps up, this is an ideal form of technology to utilize.

Reducing Mold Spores

UV light can disrupt the growth of mold in your home. Since our homes stay very closed in the winter months, humidity can increase. This can lead to mold growing in areas like your bathroom or kitchen. If the spores spread, this can cause mold to grow elsewhere. This is also a scenario that can make you very sick. Exposure to mold can increase allergy symptoms but also lead to chronic issues like fatigue and headaches.

Reducing Odors

When you don’t have a healthy exchange of air between the outdoors and the inside of your home, this can lead to the accumulation of odors. Your home may smell musty, or there may be cooking odors lingering. Stale air can compromise the overall comfort level of your home. UV lights can kill the microbes that may be contributing to your poor indoor air quality.

Maintaining Your UV Light System

As with other parts of your HVAC system, your UV light setup will need to undergo routine inspections and maintenance. We encourage you to schedule this service with our team as part of your annual HVAC maintenance appointment. Our team will clean the surface of your UV light. If it becomes very dirty, this can lead to the light not working as efficiently as it should. Your UV light bulb will need to be changed approximately once per year.

We will also inspect the different electrical connections that are in place and other related components. We will ensure that your UV light is not damaged or has experienced any kind of wear. Some signs of UV light issues include a discolored bulb or cracks in the light housing. Many UV lights come with an internal timer that will alert you when it’s time to schedule service with our team.

It’s imperative that you obtain professional installation and repair of your UV light. There is a certain degree of radiation that is emitted, and our team knows how to safely conduct service without risking exposure to our team or anyone in your home.

Improving Your Indoor Air Quality

In addition to using UV light technology to improve your indoor air quality, there are other methods to focus on as well. This includes the use of a whole-house air purification unit. By using advanced filtration that is more effective than the filter in your furnace, an air purifier can remove up to 99.97% of the particulate matter in your home. This includes things like certain viruses and bacteria, pet dander, dust, dust mites, mold spores, and more. Some units will even be able to remove volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from your indoor air, especially if they utilize activated carbon filters.

Ventilation is also very important. While the bitterly cold temperatures outside may be preventing you from opening your windows and doors, you can use exhaust fans and other types of ventilation fans to remove stale air from the home and replace it with fresh air. You should also use your exhaust fans whenever you are cooking, bathing, or cleaning. This will help you control the level of humidity in your home.

Relative humidity in the home should always be between 35% and 50%, regardless of the time of year. You can reduce high levels of humidity by utilizing a whole-house dehumidifier. A whole-house humidifier can add moisture to your indoor air if dryness is something you’re dealing with.

Consider upgrading the filter that you’re using in your HVAC system. Most pleated or fiberglass filters only remove very large particulates from your indoor air. This leaves a lot behind that can aggravate allergies, asthma, and other respiratory issues. Pay close attention to a filter’s minimum efficiency reporting value rating, or MERV rating for short. This rating discloses how restrictive a filter is and how effective it is at removing contaminants. The higher the MERV rating, the more particulates that will be removed. However, most residential HVAC equipment can’t handle MERV ratings over 12. You can check with our team to determine what the best filter option is for your equipment and IAQ needs.

Contact Us Today

If you are interested in learning more about using UV lights in your home to improve your indoor air quality, reach out to our team here at Hoff Heating & AC. In addition to indoor air quality assistance, we also perform furnace installation, repair, and maintenance. These services apply to air conditioning equipment as well. We also offer installation of ventilation equipment, geothermal systems, mini-splits, and whole-house humidity control. Contact Hoff Heating & AC for UV light assistance in the O’Fallon area today.